X-Ray Residual Stress Measurement of Austenitic Stainless Steel Based on Fourier Analysis

In a previous study, the authors introduced a new nondestructive method to measure stress with a two-dimensional X-ray diffraction image. This method was tested on a carbon steel specimen. To apply this method to the structures of nuclear power plants, it is essential to show that the residual stress of austenitic stainless steel can be measured. We report on an experiment in which the method was used to measure the stress in austenitic stainless steel standards. The results were consistent with the specification of the stress standard and the conventional sin² ψ method. We conclude that the proposed method is promising for residual stress measurement of austenitic stainless steels.